|
Main Menu
Home
Undergraduate
Studies
Graduate
Studies
Faculty/Staff
Upcoming
Events
|
Associate Professor
J. Michael Plavcan
 Associate Professor
Plavcan received a B.A in Anthropology and Zoology in 1984 from Duke University,
and a Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology and Anatomy from Duke University
in 1990. He received an NIH funded postdoctoral fellowship in the Department
of Biology at the University of Cincinnati under Dr. Rebecca German from
1991 to 1993, studying human fetal craniofacial growth and development.
From 1993 until 2001 he taught Human Gross Anatomy at the New York College
of Osteopathic Medicine. He joined the Department of Anthropology in the
fall of 2001.
RESEARCH
Professor Plavcan's research centers on primate and human evolution, with a special emphasis on using comparative analyses of living species to understand the morphology and adaptations of extinct species. He is best known for his work on sexual dimorphism in primates and humans, which involves comparative work using both morphological and behavioral/ecological data. This work has provided insights into the relationships between behavior and ecology in both male and female primates, and the evolution of sex differences in the teeth, skulls and jaws of primates. Applied to the fossil record, his work has been used as a basis for inferring the evolution of social behavior in primates and early humans. Professor Plavcan also carries out work on the statistical methods for recognizing species in the fossil record. Additionally, he has carried out research on diverse topics including the systematics of fossil South American monkeys, dietary reconstruction in extinct African ungulates, dwarfing in living marmosets and tamarins, and the logic of creation science. His current research projects include craniofacial variation in living and fossil primates, modeling social behavior and dimorphism in the fossil record, the behavioral and ecological correlates of dimorphism in body size, skull size and tooth size, the evolution of tooth shape in primates, the evolution of sexual dimorphism in the limbs of primates, the systematics of South African fossil monkeys, and relationship between ecology, geography, and morphological differentiation among species.
COURSES SPRING
SEMESTER, 2003
SELECTED
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Solounias, N.,
S. Moelleken, and J. M. Plavcan (1995) Predicting the diet of extinct
bovids using masseteric morphology. J. Vert. Paleontol. 15: 795-805.
Plavcan, J. Michael,
and R. Z. German (1995) A quantitative evaluation of craniofacial growth
in the third trimester human. Cleft Pal.-Craniofac. J. 32:394-404.
Plavcan, J. Michael
and J. Kelley (1996) Evaluating the "dual selection" hypothesis
of canine reduction. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 99: 379-387.
Plavcan, J. Michael.
(1996) Commentary on 'Biology and body size in human evolution: statistical
inference misapplied'. Curr. Anthropol. 37: 473.
Plavcan, J. Michael,
and Carel P. van Schaik (1997) Interpreting hominid behavior on the basis
of sexual dimorphism. J. Hum. Evol. 32: 345-374.
Plavcan, J. Michael,
and Carel P. van Schaik (1997) Intrasexual competition and body size dimorphism
in anthropoid primates. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 103:37-68.
Kelley, J. and
J. Michael Plavcan (1998) A simulation approach to species number at Lufeng.
J. Hum. Evol. 35: 577-596.
Plavcan, J. Michael
(1998) Correlated response, competition, and female canine size in primates.
Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 107: 401-416.
Plavcan, J. Michael
(1999) Mating system, intrasexual competition and sexual dimorphism in
primates. In P. C. Lee (ed.) Comparative Primate Socioecology.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 241-269.
Simons, Elwyn
L., J. Michael Plavcan, and John G. Fleagle (1999) Canine sexual dimorphism
in Egyptian Eocene anthropoid primates: Catopithecus and Proteopithecus.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96: 2559-2562.
Solounias, N.
M. Plavcan, J. Quade and L. Witmer. (1999) The Pikermian Biome and the
savanna myth. Pp. 427-444. In J. Agusti, P. Andrews, and L. Rook (eds.)
Evolution of the Neogene Terrestrial Ecosystems in Europe. Cambridge
University Press.
Plavcan, J. M.
(2000). Inferring social behavior from sexual dimorphism in the fossil
record. J. Hum. Evol. 39: 327-344.
Plavcan, J. Michael
(2002). Reconstructing social behavior from dimorphism in the fossil record.
In (Plavcan, JM, Kay, RF, Jungers, WL, and van Schaik, CP, (eds) Reconstructing
Behavior in the Primate Fossil Record. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum
Publications.
Plavcan, J. Micheal
(2002). Sexual dimorphism in primate evolution. Yrbk Phys. Anthropol.
44: 25-53.
Plavcan, J. Michael,
and Dana Cope (2002). Metric variation and species recognition in the
fossil record. Evol. Anthropol. 10: 204-222.
Plavcan, J. Michael,
Richard F. Kay, William L. Jungers, and Carel P. van Schaik (2002). Reconstructing
Behavior in the Primate Fossil Record. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum
Publications.
Plavcan, J. Michael
(2002) Taxonomic variation in the patterns of craniofacial dimorphism
in primates. J. Hum. Evol.
McGraw, W. Scott,
J. Michael Plavcan, and Kaoru Adachi-Kanazawa (2002) Female adult Cercopithecus
diana killed by other females: evidence for the use of canine teeth
as weapons by females. Int. J. Primatol.
Plavcan, J. Michael (2003) Scaling relationships between craniofacial sexual dimorphism and body mass dimorphism in primates: implications for the fossil record. A. J. Phys. Anthropol. 120: 38 - 60.
Plavcan, J. Michael (2004) Sexual selection, measures of sexual selection, and sexual dimorphism in primates. In: (Kappeler, P. M. and van Schaik, C. P., eds.) Sexual selection in primates: New and Comparative Perspectives, pp 230-252. Cambridge University Press.
Plavcan, J. Michael (2004) Evidence for early anthropoid social behavior. In: (Ross, C, and Kay, RF, eds). Anthropoid Origins: New Visions, pp 383 – 412. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Plavcan, J. Michael, van Schaik, Carel P., and McGraw, William S. (2005) Seasonality, social organization, and sexual dimorphism in primates. In: (Brockman, D. and van Schaik, C. P., eds.) Seasonality in primate evolution. (in press).
Plavcan, J. Michael, Lockwood, Charles L., Kimbel, William H., Lague, Michael R. and Harmon Elizabeth H. (2005). Sexual dimorphism in Australopithecus afarensis revisited: how strong is the case for a human-like pattern of dimorphism? J. Hum. Evol. (in press).
|
